


Mutation

by orphan_account



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Addictions, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Angst, Annihilation movie inspired, Blow Jobs, Deaths are NOT Charles or Erik, Depression, Dissociation, Don't need to read/watch to understand, Drama, Erik-centric, Everyone Has Issues, Flirty Charles, For Charles and Erik at least, Gen, Getting powers, Happy Ending, Holocaust, M/M, Mentioned: - Freeform, Romance, Science Fiction, Shaw is an ass, Smitten Erik, Terminal Illnesses, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 07:18:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13899084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: They had all entered for their own reasons, they were all broken in their own ways. Why else would someone voluntarily sign on for something labeled a 'suicide mission'? Eleven other teams had entered the Shimmer, a mysterious boundary that had appeared several years ago, and none had returned, thus they knew nothing of what waited inside.Erik is trying to get his life together, if he lives then his life will change forever, and if he dies then at least he will be at peace. The team of five, Erik-Charles-Moira-Emma-Sebastian, enter the Shimmer expecting to die, hoping to make it out alive with information, what they get is nothing like they ever could have imagined. Between time gaps in their memory, mutated animals and one disturbing video left by the last research group it's hard to make sense of the world they entered. Is it beautiful, or destructive? Perhaps, a bit of both.Based on/Inspired by the movie Annihilation (You don't need to read/watch to understand this fic though)





	1. Annihilation

**Author's Note:**

> (Reuploading this because something was weird with the first post)  
> I have so many other things I'm supposed to be writing right now. My apologies to everyone waiting for anything by me that has to wait because I couldn't stop writing this.  
> -The science in this is probably crap so don't take it too much to heart.  
> -I'm also trying a different writing style, if you've read my other fics please let me know what style you prefer?
> 
> Everyone's personalities are slightly numbed/changed, this is done purposefully due to things they are going through internally along with where they are.

_an·ni·hi·la·tion_

_1\. complete destruction or obliteration._

_2\. PHYSICS: the conversion of matter into energy, especially the mutual conversion of a particle and an antiparticle into electromagnetic radiation._

_::...::_

Erik stepped out onto the balcony connected to his room, gazing out into the green field that spread out but eventually came to a dead stop where the technicolored swirling wall of mystery started. He had been debriefed earlier that day after practically signing his life away in contracts to the government not to mention all of the medical tests beforehand, apparently they called it the Shimmer because of the way it looked, moved and sparkled even when not in sunlight.

He had been told it started three years ago when something was reported crashing into a lighthouse and slowly since then the Shimmer had spread beyond that point to where it was now. Team after team had been sent inside the boundary to check and study what had happened but so far none had returned, eleven teams had gone inside and never come back. So signing the contract to become part of a team was more than likely a death sentence.

The man had his reasons but that didn't mean he wasn't a bit frightened about what he would be facing inside the border tomorrow morning, and a bit anxious over meeting his team for the first time before suiting up to venture inside. Letting out a slightly exasperated sigh Erik fished into his front pockets for his half-empty carton of cigarettes, he had been trying to quite recently but after listening to the lawyers list off all of the ways he could and might die had not left him in the mood to  _not_ smoke.

Caressing the stick between his lips Erik kept patting himself down in search of his lighter to no avail, "Fuck." he grunted and remembered that he had deliberately left his lighter back home to prevent himself from smoking. "Fuck me." With perfect timing he heard the balcony door next to his own slide open and a partially silhouetted figure walked out and turned on the little lamp connected to the railing.

It was a young man, he had to be similar to Erik's age so mid-twenties with a mop of brown hair and wearing, belted up trousers and buttoned up shirt despite how late it had become. Blue eyes met his own before eyeing the cigarette still hanging in his mouth. "Could I possibly...bum one of those off of you?" the other asked.

"Sure, if you've got a light. Seems I've lost mine." he said with a small white lie before holding his box out for the man to take one and then stuffing it back into his pants pocket.

"Lucky for us both I have some matches. Hold on." he disappeared only to return a moment later with said matches, lighting his own and then reaching over the close balconies to light Erik's cigarette. "Thanks." Erik sighed out and took a long lung-full of the toxic air. Leaning his arms onto the balcony facing forward he couldn't help but to keep glancing over to the other man, watching him smoke and also gaze out at the Shimmer.

"I'm Erik." he finally said. "Charles." the other answered back and started to smile faintly.

Normally he wasn't a very social person, he preferred being by himself to an extent and didn't go out of his way to make friends with strangers. As of late he had been trying to better himself, quite smoking, drink less, get a proper job-which was where this gig came in, so maybe he should add make some friends to that list. After exchanging names Erik wasn't able to think of a single thing to ask so they just stood there in serene silence for a long time before Charles put the butt of his cigarette out and turned to head inside. "Thanks for that, good night Erik."

He figured at that point maybe it was time for him to attempt some rest for himself, despite what he had been expecting Erik slept well until his alarm rang the next morning and he headed down to the meeting point on the bottom floor of the facility. The government had labeled the area around the Shimmer as Area X and they weren't shy about marking it everywhere as if it made being near the border of something alien less scary and sound more like a science fiction novel.

Once there he was introduced to who he would be teamed up with on this expedition.

There was Moira Mactaggert, a brunette woman who was a paramedic and had taken some minor classes in zoology. Emma Frost, a tall and very slim woman with bleach blond hair who was a psychologist and the one who had actually done all of the psych evaluating of the team and several past teams from what Erik had overheard. And lastly Sebastian Shaw, a fit man with short hair that Erik was told he was a geologist who seemed slightly out of place but who was Erik to judge what they would need going inside.

With Erik, who had spent his entire life since the age of sixteen in some form of military based training or field but no academics to benefit his team from he could see where he was needed. The others were there to study while he would provide the safety. "Are we ready to go?" he asked after being introduced. Emma shook her head and glanced around, "We're waiting on one more-oh, perfect timing Xavier."

Walking in was the young man from last night on the balconies, hair a little ruffled as if he had woken up later and rushed to get down on time. "My apologies for making everyone wait." Maybe he had been too tired last night but Erik finally noticed the accent in the man's voice, it was slight but distinctly British. Erik was no one to judge, his own voice was still heavily shrouded with a mixture of German and Polish.

The psychologist nodded and gestured for Sebastian to give Charles his pack and outfit to get changed into, "Everyone, this is Charles Xavier. Degrees in biology, genetics, and biophysics. Charles this is-" Erik zoned out from listening as the information was repeated for the late comer, he was stunned. Someone his age with not one but three degrees, it was quite impressive and Erik was sure Moira shared his fascination with the idea from the look on her own face.

Walking up to the Shimmer was far more intimidating than thinking about it, Erik had never suspected something so rainbowy would leave him wanting to turn his tail and go home. Somehow he made it first to the wall of moving energy and halted to a stop, swallowing hard around the lump forming in his throat as he tried to mentally prepare himself. Sebastian rolled his eyes and shoved Erik's shoulder, "Bunch of pussies, come on." and stepped through without hesitation.

::...::

Erik awoke with a gasp, he sat up and looked around finding himself in the bright yellow, small sized, standard-issued tent his team had packed away in their bags. He felt immediately disorientated and clambered out to stand up, after entering the Shimmer he couldn't remember anything. There was no memory of walking and setting up camp, yet he looked around to see that they were plenty deep into the forest the Shimmer had engulfed.

The others were already awake as Erik half-stumbled over to them and let himself slide down and sit next to Charles, who was digging into his pack and pulling out their military grade dehydrated food packets. "Good morning." the brunette greeted him without a smile, "Not feeling too well? Don't worry we all felt the same when we woke up, it'll pass."

Roughly rubbing his fingers over his eyes to clear them up Erik cleared his throat and pulled out a bottle of water to drink from. "I don't remember anything." making sure that concern was prevalent in his tone. It didn't seem to upset the others.

"We're the same." Emma called from where she sat in her tent, seemingly avoiding sitting on the grass at all costs. "If our food supplies are anything to go on we've been out here for three days already." Charles finally piped up again after a few moments. He couldn't believe that, how could three whole days of their memories just be gone?

"That's impossible..." Erik whispered softly. Everything around them looked normal, all of the trees and plants, the air felt no different than normal. The only thing reminding them that they were in a strange place being the faint color of the Shimmer in the sky over them that thankfully still let sunlight down inside of it. Going through his own pack Erik pulled out his walkie and the more advanced comm device they had packed away.

Messing with the settings and checking them over they only crackled and refused to work, "Shit. I know we weren't expecting them to work but this is still unnerving. Moira, try your compass." The request took a second to sink in before the brunette pushed her sleeve up and flipped open her wrist compass. "It's going nuts, no clear reading."

The others all seemed to agree with him that it was a bit frightening but there wasn't much they could do so they packed up their items and tents, made sure their guns were at the ready around their shoulders and began walking. Erik lead the pack with Charles walking mostly next to him and the other three lagging only a tad behind together.

Thankfully one thing unchanged was the weather, it was a gentle warmth with a light breeze occasionally blowing through the area. Erik didn't miss the way that Emma and Sebastian seemed to be familiar with each other even when the rest of them had only met each other that morning, other than Emma having taken their psych evaluation. If the others had gone the way Erik's had then that wasn't nearly enough time to get familiar with the blond woman like Sebastian seemingly was.

His glances often fell to the young man who walked next to him, Charles seemed completely calm but would often reach to scratch the back of his neck. If his years of drinking and smoking had taught Erik anything it was a tell and the signs of someone who was itching for something they were addicted to. He only wanted to break some of the deafening silence so he found himself uncharacteristically opening his mouth to make conversation.

"Looks like you're itching for another cigarette." his voice was light and not judging whatsoever but watching Charles want to smoke made himself want to smoke. Charles simpered and looked back at Erik, "Afraid so. I quit long ago but every once in awhile I'll get stressed and smoke one or two. Seems indulging last night wasn't the smartest thing to do, now I want another more than ever."

"I've got a few left still, maybe tonight if everything looks clear we can  _indulge_ ourselves." he offered Charles with a sneer and couldn't help but to lightly mock the others light accent that had become quite deep on that single word. It was quite amusing for Erik to hear. "I...I'd like that very much." as a reward Erik was smiled at, brightly even which was something he was far from used to.

"The rest of you smoke at all?" Erik asked back to the others. Odd, even though the assignment they were on had been labeled a suicide mission he felt very light. Lighter than he had in a long time back home and it had nothing to do with being sober. He'd always been a longer yet he was the one making conversation and being the light of the group.

Emma made a disgusted face at the thought of smoking, Sebastian shrugged but said in an almost cryptic voice, "Only after a good fuck." Moira didn't seem anymore fond of it than the Emma had but said, "You do know how many people die from those things don't you?" He should have expected it, the woman was a long-term paramedic.

After a long morning of walking and using the sun for directions instead of their compass his party came to the swamp they had been expecting. They had planned to hit the swamp and walk along its edges until they came to the small village built over the swamplands which had been evacuated before the Shimmer had taken over.

"Everything still looks normal." he shrugged unimpressed, they had gone a whole day conscious and apparently three days before that and still were unscathed. What had killed all of the previous parties before them? "No it doesn't." Charles' voice was suddenly serious but didn't sound concerned, more curious. The young man moved past him quickly to a bridge that lead to a small shack.

Charles knelt down on the bridge, the railing was covered in all sorts of flowers, different sizes and colors blooming beautifully and even seemed to be encroaching on some bushes and up the bases of some nearby trees. "Gorgeous, looks like someone was going to have a wedding out here."

"I don't think so." Charles disagreed adamantly, plucking a flower off the fencing with one hand and running his other along the vines and different parts of the plant. "If you look at it this all looks like different species, sizes and color don't match. These aren't plants that normally belong to the same genome yet here they are, all belonging to the same vines as one. Mixed together...mutated together."

"Fascinating." Sebastian visibly rolled his eyes while looking into Erik's, trying to share a moment between two men which he did not respond to. Scoffing back he instead stepped over to where Charles knelt, "So far nothing dangerous, just some very pretty and mutated flowers. That's a good sign, right Charles?" the smaller man didn't answer him back right away, "Maybe."

"Take some samples." Moira suggested as she squeezed past them both across the narrow and wobbly floating bridge to check out the seemingly abandoned shack. He and the others decided to drop their packs for the moment as Charles pulled samples of the flower and plants to take back with them. Emma had taken to sitting on top of her pack to avoid sitting on the ground instead and Sebastian lounged near her on the dry grass. The man wagged his feet back and forth like he had no cares in the world.

The serene sounds of the quiet forest were interrupted by a scream exploding from the shack. "Moira!" Erik instantly called and moved his feet as quickly as possible to get inside, assault rifle ready in his hands. Inside it was just as small as he had thought, seemed to be a storage area for boats, most were hung up against the wall. Half of the floor was broken through from the water, planks broken everywhere, claw and teeth marks lined most of them and some faintly dried blood. "Moira!" he cried out again more desperately this time.

There were thrashes in the water so he dove in without thinking, reaching out with both hands to find purchase on anything he could find. More splashes and Moira's head came above water, she screamed and sucked in air. "It's g-OT m- bag!" He didn't listen and just grabbed her at the perfect time and dragged her from the water and out the door to get away from whatever had attacked her. "You're ok, I've got you!"

Erik pulled her roughly onto the grass in his haste before he snapped, "One of you check on her!" and stepped forward until he was only a few feet from the edge of the water, eyeing it for any movements. Emma was first to get to Moira's side and touched her cheek, "You're alright-" and tried her best to soothe away the shock. Charles was second to come to her aid and helped the shivering wet woman shrug her heavy and partially torn apart pack off her shoulders.

When the water began rippling he ordered, "Everyone stay back." and took a few steps back himself, watching as a large crocodile pulled itself up onto land. Erik didn't know a ton about crocodiles but from what he did know they usually didn't just attack humans, either the monstrous animal was in a foul mood, starving or felt they were intruding on its home in some way. Either way when it opened its mouth and let out a guttural noise Erik didn't want to take a chance and pumped it full of half his clip just to be safe.

He felt a bit bad but with Moira how she was they were in no position to run and give the beast space. Turning back to his team, or part of it since Erik couldn't spot Sebastian anywhere, he asked, "How is she?"

Charles was disinfecting and bandaging what looked to be a shallow claw scrape on Moira's arm but the brunette woman nodded, "I'm...I'm fine, thank you Erik. You saved my ass." her voice had calmed quite a bit, she had nerves of steel and Erik could respect that. "Charles, could you help me look over that big guy...something seems off about him to me." she requested.

While the others got to work Erik went back inside the shack, he had a feeling their missing person was hiding out in there. Right on the money, he found Shaw looking over the boats and pulling one down off of its tie. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Moira almost drowned and got eaten! At least Emma is trying to help, Charles is helping, and you're in here worrying about the damn boats!?"

With a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders the tall man kept moving until he got the boat onto the ground. "I'm no good at any of the stuff they are, figured I'd make due with our time and get these going." Ok that was sort of fair, but somehow Erik didn't feel like the man really meant it. He didn't care that Moira had almost died, hadn't even batted an eyelash.

"You know what? I'm just.." he sighed loudly and ran a hand through his short hair, "I'm going to let this go, don't run off like that again. We stick together and we take care of each other. Keep getting the boats ready since that is all you're good for apparently." he snipped, finally seeing an irritable look enter Shaw's eyes.

When he headed back out he had to pause and almost smiled at the very odd scene before him. Emma Frost, blond, scrawny woman was doing her best to hold the upper jaw of the crocodile open, Charles was supporting her and helping with a hand pushing it up as well but seemed occupied as he and Moira's heads were half in the animals mouth looking at something and taking some saliva and blood samples.

"Find anything interesting?" he asked after getting closer.

"Fascinating actually." the young man answered him as he and Moira got clear so Emma could let go of the jaw and rest her arms. Holding his arms out Erik pulled Moira to her feet when given her hand, and then the same to Charles but their hands seemed to linger for a split moment longer. His body naturally turned towards Charles' with a curious look in his eyes. "Yeah?" He had never cared too much about science and it wasn't why he had come inside the Shimmer but something made him want to listen to Charles spout what was nonsense to him.

The other held up a bit tooth that even Erik could have told you didn't belong to a crocodile. "These are what Moira and I classified as more...shark-like teeth, it had several rows of them too just like a shark. Not only that but if you look along its side where its normal scales stop there are what look like fish scales. It's mutated, just like the flowers."

"It's like this place is annihilating everything we know." Moira muttered, looking off-put by the idea of all of these creatures and plants mutating together into new beings. Charles, on the other hand, looked almost excited by the idea and shook his head, "That isn't the word I would use to describe this place...but to each their own."

Emma rolled her eyes, she couldn't care less about the discussion. Sebastian did his part, as little as that was, and got two dingy boats ready to go. He had pulled out a three person and a two person boat, opening his mouth to give orders the other man cut him off. "I'll take the ladies with me, I prefer their company over either of yours."

If it had been up to him Erik would have taken Charles and Moira, though he wasn't fond of the blond woman Emma hadn't done anything to make him dislike her. Actually, if it had been up to him he would have left Sebastian for the crocs, his sixth sense was telling him the man was going to be dead weight for this trip.

There was no point in arguing, no one spoke up about it. Half an hour later he and Charles had already found a good rhythm of rowing, they had to sit next to each other in their boat and pushed them along gently through the swamp with the others behind them following slowly. Erik kept his eyes turned forward and steadily watched where they were headed, until he felt a hand smoothly run from his elbow up his bicep and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Quirking his eyebrow he turned his head at Charles, who pulled away then with an embarrassed look on his face. "Oh! I'm sorry! My sister always did tell me I was too curious for my own good. You wear long sleeves, I was curious what your arms look like." Still with a smile Charles went back to rowing and Erik turned his head back forward to keep watch. They had a long trek to get to the lighthouse, the supposed center, and Charles had just made things awkward.

"Were they what you expected?" he asked after several minutes of silence. "Excuse me?" the other asked. "My arms."

"O-Oh yes um...actually more muscular even than I expected." After hearing that he felt his lips quirk up and quickly washed his thoughts away to pull them back down into a serious line. "Since you felt me up I think that means I should get to ask you something. Why are you here? I'm curious, you're young and very bright obviously so why enter something labeled as a suicide mission?"

At first Erik thought he might have crossed the line when silence ensued, but when he was about to apologize Charles piped in. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but we're all damaged goods on this expedition. Like you said, people don't enter something like this if they have things they're looking forward to or don't have things they're trying to work through."

He knew that he had problems and Shaw definitely had some screws loose in his mind but Emma seemed normal, Charles seemed happy and enthusiastic. "What are you working on?"

"Well...I don't have a significant other and my sister, who is my only family and I was very close to...recently died." he didn't go into detail and Erik didn't ask. "I'm having a tough time getting through it, and as pathetic as it sounds I don't really care if I live through this or not because of it. Life without her is...it's the hardest thing I've ever experienced."

Something told him that words wouldn't help what Charles was feeling at the moment. Erik touched his hand on Charles' elbow and moved it up, giving the other's bicep a playful squeeze and in a teasing tone said, "Sorry, just wanted to return the curiosity." The brunette smiled back at him with his sadness lifted at least at the moment.

"What about them?" Erik asked and used his eyes to signal to the other boat behind them. "Any ideas?"

"You're talking to the gossip master Erik, of course I know. I had a conversation with Moira a few days before we left, I had no idea she was part of the team when we spoke. Poor thing, I guess she had a young son killed in a hit-and-run, police were never able to find the person responsible." His voice was full of sympathy and Erik felt it too, losing a child or a close sister had to be hard. Charles and Moira he could only assume had bonded over their losses that night and talked about it together.

"Sebastian is sick, I'm not sure what exactly but my guess is cancer with the type of medication he was taking earlier." That had been Erik's guess from how little the man seemed to care about anything, either that or that he was a convicted felon who had been forced to come in instead of having a life sentence in jail. "Emma I  _believe_ has feelings for him or has known him a long time, I've seen them around the base a few times together and never see her with anyone else."

"Should you be telling me all of this?" he asked then, his inner school girl had gotten the best of him with the so-said gossip but his adult mind was saying that these were people's lives and secrets he was being told. "Can't say for sure but something tells me that they don't care all that much, we are here after all. We're all alike in a way, who are we to judge each other? That leaves you Erik, you I can't pin down your baggage. Mnn...PTSD from the military? No can't be or you wouldn't be here as our escort." the man guessed.

Any other situation Erik would have told the asker to mind their own fucking business, but Charles was right. They were in the perfect situation that why should they care who knew what, it must be the same reason why his chest had felt so light since being inside. They had nothing to hide or worry about inside the Shimmer like in the real world where you had bills, life issues, problems. It helped that Charles was flirting with him and was quite cute, that didn't hurt the atmosphere at all.

"You're on the right track. Pull my sleeve up." As odd as it was Erik kept rowing with one hand and held out one forearm for Charles to roll his tan sleeve up, revealing the sketched in numbers 214782. A soft gasp left Charles' lips and Erik pulled his arm back to keep rowing, Charles followed his lead. "Oh shit, I should have guessed from your accent. You couldn't have been more than fifteen when those camps finally closed down..."

"It's definitely left me with a lot of issues, personality problems, depression, addiction, therapists said I'm unable to connect to others on a normal level. Oh and I have some major anger issues." Ones that again he hadn't felt since entering the Shimmer which no doubt added to the light feeling. "I don't seem it but I'm quite the bastard, don't be fooled Charles."

"Would you two quit flirting and row!" Shaw yelled at them, the boat behind them had caught up with their spurts of rowing and stopping.

::...::

By the time they made it to the first mark they had walked for several hours after abandoning the boats, they came to the old Area X base which had since been abandoned when the Shimmer swallowed it whole. The building looked like any other that had been abandoned for several years, dark and probably dirty inside with wild life and plants taking over but not worn down much. On the outside there were large patches of fungi stretching over the walls of all different colors.

As he expected Charles approached it all quickly for a sample as the others filed inside, "Charles, you can do that later we need to set up camp inside before it gets dark." They set up in the mess hall which as expected was mostly empty but had open space enough to set up their tents, the door that lead outside had been ripped off the hinges along with a single broken window and many leaves that had wormed their way inside the building.

There was no water or food left but Erik did find in the corner a chalkboard with a hand-drawn layout of the building and names on the side with times written out after them. "Cain Marko, Hank McCoy, Scott Summers, Alex Summers, and Mortimer Toynbee...that's the last team that entered wasn't it Emma?" he called and the blond nodded back. "This was their first stopping point as well, looks as if they were keeping perimeter watch during their stay."

"Then we should too, but I prefer groups of two or three rather than one at a time." If their watches at least were correct it was getting close to 5:30 in the evening, the sun would be setting on the horizon son and becoming dark.

"I prefer sleeping through the night, I'll go up to the watchtower and keep an eye out until tonight. Then you four can split up however you want and I can get some decent fucking sleep." Shaw said stretching his arms over his head, picking up his assault rifle and making a few steps towards the door. Erik reached and almost grabbed him by the shirt to start a fight, Emma's hand pushed him away first. "It's not worth fighting over, we don't need you two bloodying each other up."

With a huff and snort like a bull Erik pushed his anger down the best he could, it was unlike him not to follow through on a fight once his mind had settled on the idea. "You three pick who you want to have watch with then!" he ordered and pointed almost accusingly at Emma in particular. There was no doubt in his mind, he had been hired and brought along as babysitter and Shaw was the biggest baby of them all, Emma being an enabler and the other two...well they were better but left alone in the wild they probably wouldn't survive with thing like that crocodile lurking about.

"I'll take watch with Erik." Not a surprise that Charles had been the one to pipe up for that and Erik wouldn't complain, he actually wanted to hear some of the man's thoughts on this weird world inside of the Shimmer's margin. The ladies seemed to quirk their eyes at the declaration but said nothing about it, Moira did smile and looked at Emma. "Ladies night, that sounds nice actually. No offense boys."

"None taken." the Brit said.

When the hour closed in on ten at night he and Charles let the women get settled and stepped out to the watchtower. The base was slightly rusted but felt sturdy like the rest of the compound, Shaw passed them on the stairs, purposefully bumping Erik's shoulder without a word. As they neared the top his companion said with a sigh in his throat, "I have no idea why you two are butting heads all of a sudden. Must be two alpha males fighting for dominance."

"Why aren't you itching to get in on the fight then?" he asked in return. "Me? Oh no Erik I'm not an alpha, I'd be a beta for sure. Swing both ways, I prefer not to fight and to talk things out instead. Not that there is anything wrong with alphas, I find it quite charming to be fought over on the occasion." Charles touched a hand to his chest in gesture and half grinned.

At the top there were barred railings, so they each took one side and propped their backs against it to look out into the light forest that surrounded them and had become very dark in the last few hours. "You've been collecting samples, any theories so far?" he asked after getting settled onto the cold metal of the floor.

"Oh quite a few, none that I'm close to considering yet though. Are you trying to flirt with me by asking about science? Because if you are, it's working." Charles' voice was light and full of teasing which made them both laugh heartily. "Maybe I am a little. In fact, I'd like to know more about you if you're willing to tell me?"

Tapping a finger to his chin, which now that he thought about it had grown a bit of stubble since the morning, Charles thought before he responded. "Well I lived in England until I was eight, that's when my family moved to America and we adopted my sister Raven. She always thought my accent was funny. As you probably guessed I'm a bit of a genius, not to toot my own horn, but I do have three degrees and I'm going on twenty-five this July." The other paused and stared at him, but not in an alarmed way like he'd seen or heard something. His facial expression was a mixture of curious and charmed.

"What is it Charles?"

"You're just staring at me with this look on your face...like you're hanging off of my every word." He was. Erik was definitely hanging off of every word. There was just something about Charles that felt like it was drawing him in, he wanted to know more and whenever Charles' face would light up on a subject like his studies or his sister it gave him a gentle tug right in his chest. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be creepy."

"You're not." the brunette promised before getting to his feet and stepping over, sinking down to sit right next to where Erik had placed himself. Their legs and arms pressed together without any spaces between. "You're sweet." That was a word Erik had never expected to be called, he'd heard himself referred to as sexy, handsome, polite at times, things along those lines but never sweet. "I'm the furthest thing from being sweet." he warned back.

"Maybe, but to me you're very sweet. You feel it too don't you, since being inside of the boundary? So far I can't tell if it's a placebo or if the Shimmer is actually doing something to us but since we woke up this morning I've felt so...so..." Charles tried to gesture with his hands but couldn't quite grasp the words he was looking for.

"Light." Erik finished. Snapping his fingers the brunette nodded back at him, "That's pretty close, before entering I was horribly depressed from my sister's passing. Could barely get myself up in the morning or keep myself together for half a day yet here I am, having a non-toxic conversation and flirting with a stranger like I haven't in seven months."

"I thought I was going crazy but I feel it too somehow. I get angry but nothing compared to how I was before this, I would have killed Shaw by now and probably screamed in Emma's face several times, broken some things...I haven't enjoyed someone's company like this for a long time either Charles."

Lost in the moment and eyes still observing forward a warm kiss surprised him when it pressed against the underside of his chin, "Nm." he made a small noise in the back of his throat but didn't look at his companion afraid that it would break the spell seemingly cast over them. Another kiss, a bit higher this time and a few more after that, Erik could feel the occasional tug on his own scruff from the small hairs on Charles' cheeks brushing together.

Teeth found their way to his neck sending immense heat straight down his body, and more so when a hand tried to sneak and pull the zipper down his standard-issued pants. "H-...Hey, you don't have to do that." his voice was slow in a whisper, "We can't, we're keeping watch Charles." it was meant to be stern and scolding but came out half-assed and more desperate.

"You keep watch then, I'll keep you awake." Charles muttered against the skin of his neck. In no time he was hard in Charles' jerking hand movements, one of his own hands had become clenched into Charles' pant leg to keep ahold of himself and the noises that wanted to escape his mouth. The other man was determined, his hand warm and gripping tight enough that it was pleasurable before it jerked to a stop.

"Ok you  _really_ don't have to do  _that._ A handjob is plent-hmm." Erik's complaints were silenced with a quick kiss that he fell into and melted against. "All I have to do is kiss you to make you quiet? Erik you are just so cute." continuing from before Charles leaned over and swallowed his cock in a slow but confident movement. Erik hissed through his teeth and buried his hand into the dark locks, " _Fuck_ it's been so long since I... _shit!_ "

The heat squeezed around his erection as it slid down Charles' throat over and over, his fingers dug tighter into the brown curls he held into and Erik leaned his head back onto the railing unable to keep his eyes open any longer. Neither of them expected it to last long and he tugged on Charles' hair lightly in warning of what was coming but the other refused to pull back and let the sticky liquid flood his throat and drank swallowed it down. Shuddering a breath out Erik peeled his eyes open, he watched Charles sit up and wipe his mouth with his sleeve.

Unable to help himself, he just had to touch Charles in some way, he brushed his fingers to cup the other's cheek as he leaned in to connect their lips in a chaste kiss. "Here let me-" his opposite hand moved down itching to return the favor but was stopped and held in place. "That's ok, I'm not really in the mood but it was fun to watch you enjoy yourself."

Instead they settled back down next to each other, Erik's dick tucked safely back into his pants, and leaning their heads onto one another's to share warmth in the cool night air. "If you change your mind I-" a finger pushed against his lips as the other muttered, "Shhh, just listen to the crickets with me."


	2. Refraction

_re·frac·tion_

_1\. the fact or phenomenon of light, radio waves, etc., being deflected in passing obliquely through the interface between one medium and another or through a medium of varying density._

_-change in direction of propagation of any wave as a result of its traveling at different speeds at different points along the wave front._

_::...::_

Erik woke to a loud pained and blood-curdling scream, mind blank he stood within milliseconds, grabbed his gun and was running himself outside towards the scream. In his hurry he admittedly had accidentally shoved Charles, who after their watch shift had made a point of cuddling while they slept, he'd have to apologize later if he remembered. More important matters at the moment though, he pushed his feet harder and ran outside gun at the ready and flashlight up.

"Emma! Moira!" he yelled as loud as he could, eyes scanning the dark grounds around him. His ears perked up noticing a small sound of rustling and then another scream, following them he stopped right in front of Moira. She looked unharmed at first glance, shaking and eyes wide, hand covering her mouth and other holding a flashlight towards part of the woods. "Moira, are you ok!? Where's Emma!?" he demanded without gentleness.

"I-I...we just, we were stretching our legs down here and-!" she extended her arm and showed him part of the fence that had been bitten and pushed through, it was a large gap for a large animal, the grass was pushed down in a dark trail and matted with blood. "Something took Emma?" he asked her and didn't wait for an answer before he took off running.

"Emma!" Erik stopped after getting through the fence right at the base of the woods, "Emma!" he yelled again and wanted nothing more than to run out after the blond woman. Not smart, his soldier mentality told him. The night was still extremely dark, going out and looking for bloody dragging trail after an unknown creature was a death sentence. There was no way he would take the others out there, but neither could he leave them alone after being attacked.

He heard his name being called from behind him, Charles was calling him, but he still couldn't get his feet to move or his eyes to tear away from the dark clumped trees. His heart thumped heavily in his chest. Erik wasn't even sure how long he stood there peering out until Shaw rushed to his side and shoved him roughly in the arm. "It's your job to keep us alive!"

It was the first time he'd heard Shaw's voice or seen his face give more emotion than a snarky paper bag but he wasn't impressed. "Don't push me."

"This is your fault Lehnsherr, your fucking fault. You're the one with all of this military experience and now Emma is _gone!"_ The man was beyond distressed, Erik thought that maybe he cared more for the psychiatrist than he had previously guessed, sad that Emma would never hear it herself. "If you think I wanted Emma to get dragged away by some _thing_ then you're more delusional than I already thought."

"We should be out looking for her, she might not be dead, she could be hiding somewhere."

"If it were light out I'd agree but it isn't, we don't know what is out there Shaw. Going out could mean the death of us all instead of just one of us." he needed to stay calm but it was hard with Shaw trying to get into his face and having to physically step himself backward to keep space between them. "She's gone...I'm sorry but she is."

The rage was prominent on the tall man's face even with the minimal light from his flashlight, he saw Sebastian pull his fist back with the intention to strike. That was fine, he could take a punch to the face and that would be all the cause he needed to lay the man flat on the ground beaten to shit. "You're both a bunch of idiotic meatheads, we should be being quiet and going back inside!" Charles walked up and hissed under his breath to emphasize his points.

"You're probably right Cha-Shaw no-!" he saw the twist at the last minute, something he hadn't expected. With a twitch in his dark eyes and need for violence in his fist Sebastian turned his punch to connect with Charles' face instead of Erik's, the brunette stumbled back with a noise of pain and held both hands over his face. He grabbed Shaw's extended arm and twisted it behind the man's back, using his weight to push and press the other into the ground as painfully as possible.

"Punching me I can understand but Charles hasn't done anything wrong!"

With his face pressed into the ground Shaw breathed in a mouthful of dirt and gagged heavily, choking out, "It hurts you more than if I hit you."

"Look you nitwits, we're all upset. No one, that's right Sebastian, _no one_ wanted this to happen." Charles grit out and pulled his hands away from his face, there was swelling beginning in his cheek already but luckily his nose hadn't been broken or was even bleeding. "Erik get off of him." he found himself obeying instantly, one good blowjob and he was whipped already. "He started it."

They regrouped inside where their tents had been set up to check everyone over, Moira was shaken but physically fine. When asked what had happened exactly she'd said, "We just came down from the tower to stretch our legs on the grass a bit when that thing, it...it looked like a bear but something was wrong with its face, dragged her away through the fence."

After a bit Shaw even calmed down and stopped glaring daggers into his back, something akin to sympathy sparked in Erik's chest. The man had gone into mourning, the look in his eyes matched that of someone who had just lost someone important to them. Too bad Emma had probably never felt that care while she was alive. He decided not to kick the man when he was already down.

"What's the plan now?" Moira finally piped up after things had been quiet for a long while. "I'll stay up the rest of the night, nothing like this is going to happen again." he stated in a deep and serious tone to the others. "I want you three to try and get what sleep you can before we head out to the next checkpoint tomorrow. We've still got a long way to walk."

No one argued back to him, not that Erik expected them to. He didn't mind he really didn't, after those screams were left echoing in his head he highly doubted he would get anymore sleep for the night anyways. The others could try, but he didn't want to. Instead of taking watch on the tower Erik sat at the front door to the building and leaned back onto the wall.

On their journey so far all they had come across were organic, animals and plants albeit nothing like they had ever seen before, but nothing human. Nothing with higher thinking than say an irritated or hungry animal looking to eat so the front door suited his watch best. He sat in the dark, assault rifle hung over his shoulder at the ready and trusty flashlight nudged next to his leg as he listened for any threatening noises.

Not even an hour later footsteps crept up the doorway and settled themselves next to him. "Charles, go back to bed." he ordered without looking up at the other man. Instead the brunette sat next to him and rubbed his arms as a shiver ran through him. "I can't sleep either, can I sit on watch with you? I promise to be quiet."

Charles ended up sleeping on his shoulder anyways but Erik was content, the company and slight warmth from the other man was comforting in its own way. Like many other people he'd known, Emma's screams remained in his mind the entire night and he was sure wouldn't fade anytime soon.

::...::

He stood up that morning when his watch turned 6 am and woke Charles up and headed inside, expecting to find Shaw and Moira still sleeping even if it was restless sleep. The two were already awake and watching something on one of their handheld cameras, Charles spoke up first. "What's that?" sounding concerned by the way not only Moira's face had gone pale but Sebastian's as well.

"You don't want to watch it." she insisted. Shaw walked the camera over to Charles and held it out, "I'm not going to lie, watching it made my stomach turn...but it also seems important, on a scientific standpoint." Although a bit reluctant the two men started the video over to watch from the beginning.

Whoever held the camera had shaky and unsteady hands, a strong and muscular young man sat on a chair in what Erik could presume was a room inside the facility they were all in now. The light was darkening so his best guess was that it was towards sunset, another young man with dirty blond hair stepped into the camera, holding a knife yet the man in the chair didn't look scared of that but looked afraid of something as he held his stomach tightly. "A-Are you sure about this Alex?" the timid camera man asked.

"This is the last team." Charles noted, "That's Cain Marko, he's my step-brother. That's how the government found me actually, through him. The guy holding the camera is Hank McCoy, I've met him before and...and that must be Alex Summers then."

The video played on, all of the men seemed to be getting more squeamish as Cain shed his shirt and leaned himself back in the chair, exposing his stomach and chest fully. He gripped his hands into the sides of the chair and bit down on a piece of branch that Alex stuffed into his mouth. "Ready?" Alex asked and received a nod. The blond man slipped his sharp knife smoothly into the other man's stomach and began cutting his way into a large circle, making it halfway he stopped as Cain's cries behind the gag were getting louder and the blood gushing from the wound became too much and they had to wipe some away with a dirty cloth.

"Keep going!" Cain urged muffled with the branch in his mouth and even waved with one of his hands to continue before clamping it down again so hard on the chair that his whole hand started turning white beginning at the knuckles. Alex cut the rest of the skin away, having cut a large uneven oval into Cain's stomach showing the man's intestines.

At that point the camera became so shaky that nothing was visible, Alex yelled, "Hank keep the video steady or set it down! Others need to see this so they know what's happening to us!" Ther other tries to steady his hands, "R-Right I'm sorry. Keep going." The visuals steadied as best Hank could at the time just in time for Erik and Charles to see that Alex reached inside of Cain's wound to pull out some of his intestines.

"I'm going to turn it off, this is disgust-" Erik began to say but Charles stopped him, "No, wait, look at that..!" The lines of innards began to move on their own, like a snake slithering and trying to get back inside of the body that was warm and wet and away from the knife wielding hand that had exposed them. Hank's voice came up again, "W-We've been inside the Shimmer approximately five days, Cain has s-started showing signs of internal pain, his skin and insides are m-moving...We haven't eaten any animals or vegetation inside of the per-perimeter a-and none of us have been injured before our symptoms started. The rest of us-" That was where the video cut, the other team's camera must have died or been damaged where it couldn't record any longer.

With a hand over his mouth Charles looked sick just as Erik felt after watching that. "So the last team went crazy and killed each other." Erik stated as if it were obvious. "No." his companion shook his head. "That wasn't a trick of the mind, his insides were _moving,_ something was happening to them everyone. Something...I don't even know how to describe it. Cain and I were never close, he was a bastard but he wasn't crazy. I met Hank several times, he was the most down to Earth man I'd met in a long time if not a bit eccentric."

"If they didn't go crazy, then what was happening to them?" Moira muttered, having paced a few times back and forth while he and Charles watched the video together to calm her nerves. "And is it happening to us?" Shaw worried next, looking at both of his hands looking for any movement in them that was unnatural.

"Show me where you found the SD card, you don't just live from a wound like they showed without leaving traces of something behind. Perhaps there's something we can inspect." Erik said. The four of them took a worried stroll down one of the hallways, "Sebastian noticed it on a desk while we were wandering around looking for a bathroom." Fair enough, if he were a woman he was positive it would be easier to use a toilet instead of squatting in the forest, a forest that they now knew had ravenous animals in it. Thank the heavens for his penis.

As he had expected once they went far enough down the halls one of the rooms was left mostly empty but the ground covered in blood, and leaving a trail of it down the nearby stairwell into the basement. He went down first, flashlight guiding him but hands ready to grab his gun to protect the three following him closely. The basement had become partially flooded, several inches of clean and clear water made their walk wet and noisier than he would have liked. Their trail of blood had disappeared but it didn't seem that it mattered, only one door was left open so they went straight inside.

Thankfully the room had windows that peeked over the ground outside and was filled with the rising sunlight, unfortunately the sight that laid before them wasn't anything like they had been expecting. Erik had been expecting a body, more blood, signs of struggling or death, an event having happened down in the basement. Against the wall of the water-filled room sat parts of the body of Cain Marko, in the same chair from the video.

His waist and everything below appeared untouched yet everything above was gone in its entirety. Having changed, or it looked more like a gentle explosion of the colorful fungi they had encountered outside of the building. It trailed up most of the wall and spread across part of the ceiling and adjoining walls in streaks and patches with no rhyme, reason or pattern.

Turning on his heels he put his hand out to catch Charles' shoulder and stand in his way. "Maybe you shouldn't look at this, I know you said you weren't close but he is technically your family." There was a pause in the other man's step but Charles pushed his hand away and stepped past him, "Thank you for your concern Erik but I'll be ok. I had a feeling he had died when he didn't return back from his mission." To his merit the brunette didn't look too upset over it, but neither did he look happy over it.

"Moira dear, would you help me look over this...Jackson Pollock painting."

He was no scientist and Shaw was practically useless only being a geologist so they stepped out of the room and let the others get to work. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, "Shit. This is getting worse and I have a feeling it'll get worse still the closer we get to the center of it all."

"Me too." the man said, for the first time since their trip set out Erik had a feeling he was going to get a civil conversation with Sebastian Shaw. "We're experiments I hope you know, the government doesn't expect any of us to come back."

"I wasn't expecting to come back, if I did it would just be a bonus." that didn't mean he wasn't going to try, but the likelihood was against any of them returning with almost a dozen lost teams thus far. "So far I've fucked up my life, I was promised that all of that would go away if I came in here."

"I wasn't expecting to live either, but Emma insisted. She insisted that anything could be in here so why not something that could fix my illness?...Yeah I know that you know, everyone knows each other's dirt here just like I know about your massive debts." Shaw said back. "Just like I know that Moira is a grieving mother who thinks she has nothing left to live for and similarly Charles is in a state of depression mixed with spells of disassociating because of how his sister was killed."

"We're all working on things, I want to try to get everyone home. Maybe if we do this adventure will have done us all some good mentally." he could only hope.

"Mentally good, what fucking good does that do me then? I'm dead either way." Erik didn't say anything back to the other man, choosing not to escalate an argument where it presented itself. He changed the subject instead, "Better rest up, if we don't waste time or run into anything dangerous we should be able to make it to the small village by mid-evening."

A few minutes of silence passed between them, he was thankful for it and honestly Erik didn't feel like talking with Shaw anymore. After the other two finished up they packed up their things, had quick fills of a snack and water and then headed out into the wilderness with only the sun to guide their direction. Today Charles seemed to be purposefully walking close to him but his eyes were far away just as his mind was.

For the first two hours they all walked into the woods in pure silence, Erik stopped dead in his tracks and held his hand up to tell the others to stop as well. "Let's take a break." he announced and shifted his backpack off of his shoulders, he set it near a closeby tree. Still spacing out Charles bumped into his shoulder then took a step back, "A break already? Why-Oh..." his voice lowered at the end.

Before them lay a hunk of torn flesh, unrecognizable and covered in flies exuding an awful smell. "It might not be hers, it looks pretty old." the brunette stated. Moira had no interest in looking at the meat so she settled herself a good amount of steps away from the area.

"You're going to look for her body, aren't you?" Shaw asked him before in a more demanding voice saying, "I'm coming with you."

"That's fine as long as you stay calm and quiet while we look, that bear-thing could be around here still." Erik warned. He would have rather gone by himself, or taken either of the other two but maybe taking Shaw would calm his anger and mourning. It would have meant the world to be able to say goodbye to his mother when she had died away from him in the concentration camps.

The trail wasn't fresh to follow but Erik managed and they didn't have to go far, holding his assault rifle to his chest steadily with one hand. It felt comforting to touch it and feel the metallic ridges under his finger tips. Half a mile into the forest there was dried blood, following the small patches Erik turned himself around a tree. "What the fuck happened to her...?" Shaw knelt by the corpse, it was torn in many places and the amount of dried blood told Erik that she had died quickly from the bite to her neck.

It was Emma, the blond hair was a dead giveaway but her body had partially turned into a clear crystal material and the rest just hanging flesh. Parts shone in the sunlight that filled in from above the treetops, sparkling beautifully if it weren't for the red that stained the ground around it. Shaw picked up a broken piece of the crystal that fit into his palm, feeling it, turning it around in his hand. He even pulled out a small eyeglass to get a deeper look before he announced, "This is pure diamond. Completely pure, uncut diamond that her body has turned into. That's impossible."

If he wasn't mistaken Erik could swear Shaw's voice shook at the end and his shoulders quivered. Against his better judgement he reached out to touch Shaw's shoulder, just with his fingertips. "Why don't we take some back with us? We can bury the rest of her." His hand was shaken off and a rough voice commanded, "Don't touch me, don't treat me like some kicked dog." The man stuffed some smaller pieces of diamond into his pockets to look over later before he stood. "Let's get back, she's dead that's all I needed to see."

Erik scoffed loudly, "Prick." Her pack laid a few feet away, ripped apart and objects strewn about it. The food was, as expected, gone but there were lots of rumpled and slightly torn research papers that Erik grabbed before they left.

Getting back to the others they relayed the information, Moira's face fell. She had been on watch with Emma and clearly felt guilty over the other woman's death. "Let's not waste sunlight, let's go everyone." he urged them on. Stepping onwards Erik handed off the papers to Charles and expected him to stay close as he started spacing out to read them, they usually did when they walked but this time Shaw had gestured for the brunette to walk near him and instead Moira took the space near Erik's walking pattern.

The two men behind them started talking softly and Shaw even pulled out the diamonds. What parts of the conversation he could make out didn't make sense to him in pieces but it sounded like they were talking about science, possibilities of what could have changed Emma's biology from human being to a beautiful crystal in the matter of a day.

"While you two were gone Charles and I had a look around the area ourselves. We found some squirrels that have developed feathers and the trees have started growing their roots together and adopting each other's leaves. So far we think that the further towards that center, the lighthouse, the more these mutations are occurring." Moira told him. "I...I'm scared, aren't you? I feel like none of you are scared."

"I'm...not scared per say, I'm worried. For all of you, it's my job to try to get you all home and that's what I aim to do. Other than that I feel strangely calm, it surprises me too since normally I'm the complete opposite of calm." the closest he'd been to calm in years would be described as numb.

"I expected it from Sebastian, but not from you or Charles. You two are so young and even if there has been pain in your life you could do so much still. Maybe fear is the wrong reaction...Emma was scared just like I am, and she's dead now..." Moira said in a tiresome tone. "She was so brilliant and she threw her life away in here."

"Sometimes people will sacrifice anything for someone they love. You see it all of the time in war." he told her.

The four of them took an actual break for food and water a few hours after the sun had grown its highest in the sky. Being the last one to sit Erik slid himself down into the dirt next to where Charles had been ignoring his protein bar, forgoing it to instead draw what looked like theories or formulas of some sort with a stick into the ground. "You should eat a bit, you have plenty of time to figure out what's going on here."

The barest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of Charles' face, "Maybe I need to be persuaded, what do I get if I eat?" the flirt had returned to his voice quickly even though the smile didn't last and instead left an almost sour and tired look in his eyes.

"I'll listen to you ramble about science, pick a subject and I'll listen to every word you say as long as you eat your protein bar afterward." he offered. Between everything that had happened in the last day it felt as if he hadn't been close to Charles in forever despite them having been cuddled together just that early morning. He missed the sound of the other man's voice and wanted to urge it out. "Oh you don't know what you're getting yourself into with that offer my friend."

"I do actually, even if I don't understand everything it's fun to watch someone talk about something they're completely fascinated by." he answered back with confidence. "So please Professor, tell me what subject I'm going to be learning about today?" Erik teased, getting himself a nudge on the arm from Charles' elbow.

"Have you ever heard of the X-Gene?" the Brit began, not seeming surprised when Erik shook his head. "It's something I discovered one day by complete accident. I was researching it further before my sister was murdered-" it felt like an arrow had pierced Erik's chest. Murdered? He had guessed something awful and slow, maybe sickness or an awful accident but somehow his mind had skipped over the possibility of a murder. Immediately he opened his mouth to ask more about it but shut his jaw tightly when Charles gave him a knowing look that told him to stop, he didn't want to talk about it and instead continued with his scientific speech. It seemed to be the brunette's way of mildly talking about the event without actually talking about it, letting little information slip here and there like Easter eggs but then brushing off the main topic.

"Anyways, only a tenth of a tenth of a tenth, that's 0.001% of the world's population has the gene. As far as I can tell it isn't used for anything, it can be genetic in families but it can also appear and disappear into further generations for long periods of time. Or the opposite, have no history and then be in someone's genes out of nowhere. No rhyme or reason to sex, race, or location in the world and doesn't do anything to change our biology...so it's useless." Charles began to laugh bitterly.

"Biggest discovery of my life and it does absolutely nothing. My best guess so far is that like the appendix it used to be there for something but we've evolved out of needing it so it just sits inside of our biology dormant and unneeded." As promised Charles picked up his protein bar and took a big bite of it.

"You're smart, once we get out of here you'll figure out what it's for. I'm sure of it." he said back with some forced enthusiasm that was quite obvious. It did the trick and brightened Charles' features just a little and that was good enough for Erik. "You're so young and you've already accomplished so much in life."

"What about you Erik, I know very little about your life. Care to share?" The conversation was between just the two of them but the rest of camp was so silent that the others could hear. Glancing at the other two, Moira politely had her head turned away giving them privacy and Shaw was absent-mindedly looking at his hands and fingertips.

"I already told you about this-" Erik tapped where his number tattoo was on his arm underneath his sleeve. "-I'm not sure what else to tell you." A warm hand covered his own and Charles said gently, "Not just the bad, tell me things that you like. I wasn't just trying to be nosy about your past, I'm trying to be nosy about you in general."

"O-Oh..." the tug in his chest had returned and kept pulling. "When I was in the military the other men often joked about me being a secret nerd because of me always asking people to play chess with me when I got drunk. No idea why I did, I haven't even played the game all that much. The military was good for me, kept me straight and narrow for a long time but there's a point where war gets into your head and if you don't get out it will stick with you forever."

"Did you get out in time?"

"Mostly. I've seen men much worse than what I've got. When I left I met this girl, Magda and she was...she was perfect." affection flooded his tone. "I loved her, but without the constant structure of the military a lot of my older issues started to resurface. I was stubborn and I didn't get help in time, so she left me." The hand over his squeezed gently. "Now I'm here, trying to pull myself together."

"You don't have to be ashamed of that Erik. I'm here for that too, why don't we try to do it together?"

::...::

Where the forest ended a clearing began and houses were visible, small wooden-based homes for the small but quaint looking village they had been trying to reach. More mutated animals and plants had come through their path during their long walk and Charles had started to write some of them down on the back of Emma's old notes but thankfully none of them dangerous.

The four of them had walked in good time but had arrived later than expected, sunset would be coming sooner rather than later so they scoped out the area and picked an empty house to set up camp inside of for the night. Outside of the house stood two clearly non-human but humanoid figures that were made out of plants. They were shaped just like any person was, a clear head, neck, shoulders, arms, but were not intricate enough to have individual fingers.

Something similar to the trunk of a bush stood in for the main portions, looking like a stickman one would draw for hangman minus the circular head. Leaves and a slight few flowers filling in the other portions giving it a human shape. Both figures had grown together like they were holding hands, one towering over the other like a parent holding their child's hand.

All four of them set their bags down to rest and enjoy what sunlight they had left of the day. As he had expected Charles knelt by the humanoid plants, his eyes looking for answers in places Erik wouldn't even be able to imagine. "Moira." the scientist called, "Try the walkie-talkie for me please?" Sure enough the woman did but as it had the first day they had tried it, all it gave out were scrambled and gargled noises.

"I think I understand what's happening here, not perfectly but I have an idea." They all were listening right away, eager for some light to shed on the topic. "It isn't being blocked, the radio waves are being refracted...changed. Just like everything else inside of the Shimmer, the energy or rays it gives off refracts different cells and parts of organic biology. Possibly non-organic to a lesser extent but so far all we've seen changing are living organisms."

"But if the refracting is causing things to merge together wouldn't everything be perfect halves of each other? That crocodile was still mostly a croc but with mild differences. Why would the changes just suddenly stop?" Moira asked.

"I'm not sure." at first Charles said and tapped his leg as a motion of excitement, his face bright and eyes never leaving the intricately woven leaves in front of him. "It must have to do with whatever energy the barrier is giving off, it's like a lesser version of radiation. It changes things but to smaller degrees, like it hits a wall and suddenly all of the cells settle and become permanent."

"That would explain why Emma changed into a diamond, it changed her biology. If we chalk it up to all of that my only question would be, why did she change so much faster than the rest of us seem to be?" Shaw asked the group.

Erik lifted his hands to look at, he hadn't noticed any differences in his body but his fingers had been more sensitive the last day or so. Nothing worth mentioning so he had ignored it.

"Emma was working near the Shimmer since the beginning, three years of getting very minimal exposure adds up." Charles suggested. "But now that we're closer than ever to the center I expect we all will be experiencing something soon. I'm still not sure what makes the difference of changing into a diamond or these plants, and it's too late to stop its change within us at this point."

"You don't sound very upset." Moira said as she stood up suddenly, rubbing her arm like a nervous twitch. "You have guesses but we really have no idea what's happening to us! We could turn into monsters!"

"Mutants." Erik said before he could shut his mouth. All of the other's stared at him for having piped up finally. He cleared his throat, "Ah...wouldn't the proper word be, mutants?"

"Hm..mutants, I do like the sound of that Erik." Charles' bright smile beamed at him. "You're right though, everything within the Shimmer is destined to become a mutant." Nonchalantly the brunette stood and moved to take a seat next to Erik and leaned their arms together lightly. "I think it's beautiful."

"I think it's disgusting!" Moira half screamed in their direction, looking down at her body. "I don't want to become one of these things, I came in here to die quickly but this... _this!_ Is slow, and probably painful!" Leaving her pack the woman rushed herself off into the house, slamming the door behind her so hard that the frame rattled.

"What do you think about it Sebastian?" Charles asked. The other man stood as well but picked his pack up, "I'm not fond of the idea but I also couldn't care less. As I've said before, I'm dead no matter what I do..." Even with his calm demeanor and voice something seemed off about Shaw to Erik, more than normal. The way he stood reminded Erik of someone holding something vital inside that was going to explode at some point, his shoulders were stiff and fingers clenched tight. "I need to do something with my hands, I'll set up the sleeping cots."

Good to his word this time Sebastian took all of their bags inside to presumably set camp. "And you Erik, what do you think about all of this? I've gotten two 'disgustings'?" Charles' voice sighed expecting the same from Erik.

"I think...I lean towards your thinking. Though I don't see the immediate beauty like you do I don't think it's unholy or gross. This place, it's creating something new and if I end up becoming part of it...I think I'd be alright with that. Even if I turn into a plant." his voice uplifted at the end in the slightest of laughs. "There's nothing waiting for me outside of this place other than my old life, even if that life is fixed up it's nothing to look forward to. Inside of here I feel calm and resolved."

"Yes..yes thank you! You understand!" Charles said excitedly again and gestured with his hands in the air. "It's exciting in here! There are no worries of the outside world, easy to disconnect and be the fresh start that we want. Erik!" he took both of Erik's hands into his own and looked directly into his eyes. "Will you stay with me in here? We can change together, into whatever this place decides we should be?"

"I-I..." with such a sudden life-altering question thrown in his face Erik stuttered and felt his throat go dry. Life outside vs inside the Shimmer. Inside did have one big advantage, he wouldn't be alone. Inside had Charles. "I will. I'll take Moira and Shaw to the border but I want to stay in here, with you."

Taking initiative Erik leaned in close and pressed his lips gently to Charles'. They moved in tandem against each other, moving close and Erik moved his hands to cup the other's cheeks to pull him deeper into their kiss. It was slow and in a way pent-up, their tongues wrapped around each other delicately until Charles broke for air. "I'm so happy you said that, really...I'm so happy you want to stay with me."

Shiny teardrops formed in the corners of Charles' eyes so Erik didn't pull his hands away and used his thumbs to brush them away. It was a moment of rare weakness on the scientists' part as a tiny sobbing noise came out of the other's throat, showing just how lonely he actually felt for the first time. Giving a reassuring smile Erik brushed his thumbs over Charles' cheeks several times and placed a quick press of his lips to the other's forehead.

::...::

After several short hours of sharing kisses and cuddling as they laid in the long grass and looking at the sky as stars began to peek out, they mutually agreed it would be safer to head inside. "How should we divide up watch tonight guys?" Erik asked in a tranquil tone. Surprised when Shaw answered first, "I'll take first, I need some time alone to think. I'll wake Moira up when I'm tired."

"Um...alright." in his momentary brain lapse, feeling almost high being with Charles he agreed and pulled his cot to partner with another with plans of cuddling that night. Moira on the other hand had set her cot in the corner far away from them, refusing to get up from where she was curled, look at them or even acknowledge their presence.

Erik fell asleep warm, inside with thoughts of Charles and outside with the man curled up to his chest and holding each other tightly.

Erik woke up from a dreamless sleep feeling the loss of that bodily contact and in a panic. Fabric gagged around his mouth, rope burning into his skin tying his arms around the back of the chair he was sitting in and his legs to the matching legs of said chair. "Mn? Mn!" he tried to struggle but wasn't getting anywhere. His head felt groggy and eyes were clouded over unable to see clearly.

"Lehnsherr calm the fuck down." Shaw said from across the room, "We're going to run a little experiment to see how far along these mutations have integrated with us." Even though it was hard to see Erik could make out the shining glint of one of their issued knives being held and twirled in the man's hands. "Now, who should we start with?"


	3. Mutation

_mu·ta·tion_

_1\. the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes_

_::...::_

The three of them struggled against their ties and cried out in muffles behind the gags in their mouths, Erik was pulling his wrists so hard if he made it out of this alive he knew there would be bruising and maybe a sprain in his waiting. Sebastian paced back and forth, they were inside of the house and the dark of night still poured in at every crevice other than a few candles that Sebastian had lit.

"I suppose the three of you would like some explanations?" he only smiled as the three seemed to struggle harder, he stopped pacing and faced towards them all and twirled the sharp knife between his hands. "I've been reading through Emma's leftover notes that I could scrape together. The government has been sending in groups of people for several years now as I'm sure you all know, but what you don't know is that something did come back six months after they started. A hand, just one hand."

Unable to keep still Shaw began to pace again, keeping his eyes towards his three prisoners as they had quieted in listening. "It was a girls, her name was Angel Salvadore from one of the early teams consisting of only women. Since then they've been sending out many different people of all backgrounds hoping something would come back that they can compare her DNA to but so far, nothing. The only concrete thing they could tell from the hand was that she held the X-Gene, and that her, at least in the genetic level had mutated considerably for being inside for only three days."

He stopped again, this time in front of Charles and pointed the knife so that the tip directly poked at the younger man's neck, Erik didn't dare act out with worry that he'd anger the man and cause Charles harm. "The government believes that being inside of the Shimmer does something to the X-Gene which otherwise lies dormant inside of a very select amount of people. People without it are still sent inside to test the differences but like I've said, no one else has returned even in pieces yet."

Charles sat frozen, his eyes wide but trying to stay still and calm as he swallowed hard with the metal threatening in front of him. "You have it-" the man said to Charles, "Your dear Erik has it and Emma had it, but Moira and I do not. Neither did Cain Marko." At first Erik was confused why they were suddenly bringing up the step-brother they'd found but like a light bulb being turned on it suddenly occurred to Erik what they'd seen so far in terms of death.

There was no way of knowing for sure but the plant shaped figures outside were more than likely non-holders of the X-Gene considering it was pretty rare to inherit, Cain had been seen on the video growing something terrifying inside of him and then they found him half exploded into fungi over half of a small room. Emma, on the other hand, with the gene had been turning into diamond and not a plant-like substance. So was the only difference that people with the gene would turn into something non-organic?

"I've been seeing my skin move on its own." the man's voice was unsteady saying that, "Moira's is the same, but neither of you has that problem. I need to check to make sure, if it's inside of her then it'll be the same inside of me. M-Maybe I can study it and stop whatever is going on within me." The man didn't seem so afraid of death as he did to having something moving about inside of his own body. If he hadn't taken matters into his own hands the way he did Erik might have been sympathetic towards the feeling.

"We don't have any sedatives, I'm sorry about this Moira. Besides Emma I did think you were the least annoying." Stepping away from Charles finally he knelt by Moira and used his knife to cut the lower part of her shirt to expose her stomach, she screamed loudly even behind the gag and tried to tighten her stomach muscles to get even centimeters further away from the knife. "It's the only way to know what's going on inside of me." the man rationalized to himself as if he were having second thoughts, but his hand was steady as he dug it deep into her flesh.

Erik could feel cold sweat of panic dripping down the back of his neck as he instinctively looked away as he listened to Moira screaming and flesh being cut in jagged patterns. What could he do? He needed to do something, he was going to lose another person under his watch if he didn't do something soon!

It was hard to explain but a warm feeling spread over his body, he'd felt it before in smaller bursts the last few days but only now was he actually beginning to understand what he was feeling. It wasn't just a warmth but almost a sensor, for metal. He could feel the metal of the knife in every movement, but not the hilt as it was made of something else, he could feel their guns piled in the corner of the room and countless other things. Was this what the Shimmer was doing to him?

Forcing his gaze to return to the bloody scene, and there was a lot of the red liquid now, his eyes even in the dark locked onto the violent weapon. With the limited movement of his hand Erik moved his fingers, the knife tugged itself from Shaw's grip and landed with a clatter onto the ground leaving the other man confused but assuming it had just slipped somehow and reached for it again. "Mn!" he grunted to urge himself on, moving his fingers in more of a jerk and the knife slid across the room towards the wall and away from Shaw.

"What the hell?..." for good reason Shaw was confused but still went to get the knife, not willing to use his hands to dig inside of the still living girl he was in the process of murdering. Erik knew the knife wouldn't be enough, whatever he was doing he didn't have enough control to fling the knife into the free man, nor enough to hit a vital spot. There were the guns in the corner of the room, so carefully Erik fiddled with his power and scooted one forward and out of the pile.

He would have liked to be as careful as possible but now wasn't the time, if he didn't do something Moira was dead for sure and something told him that Shaw didn't intend to leave either Charles or himself as witnesses. Right now he just hoped that a stray bullet wouldn't hit either of his tied up companions, sliding the gun forward again Erik moved his hands against the rope. Shakily the weapon stood up straight and aimed towards Shaw, which also happened to be in Erik's general direction where the knife had scooted.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Maybe I'm going crazy from that thing taking over my body." the man said as if he hadn't already been going crazy enough to murder people, he picked up the knife and turned around to face the gun. Not having enough time to process what he was seeing the gun fired itself with six loud rounds, two hit the floor, three hit the man in his leg, chest and neck and the final one shot through one of the legs to Erik's chair.

Gagging as blood flooded his throat Shaw dropped the knife on his own this time to clamp both hands around the bullet wound to his neck, choking and falling to his knees they watched him bleed out and finally slump over cold on the ground. It wasn't that Erik didn't notice but he tried not to think about the fact that Moira was silent as he concentrated trying to pull the knife to his hand to cut himself free. He could at least hear Charles making noises, probably trying to call out for Moira to wake the woman up with no avail.

He managed to free himself, then Charles and then Moira. The younger man was much more brilliant than he was so he probably knew what to do better for such wounds. All Erik could do was ease the bleeding woman onto her back on the ground, Shaw had successfully cut out a huge gauge of meat from her stomach, chunks of it sat on the ground near where she'd been tied. Her insides looked wrong and not just because of the cutting, they did indeed resemble what they'd seen on the video days ago and it was enough that Erik severely wanted to gag.

"What do we do? Charles! What do we do!?" he yelled as the young man sat stunned next to him, looking at the woman's face with a sad expression.

"We can't do anything to save her, I don't have medical supplies or training to fix this sort of thing...and even if I did the Shimmer has already changed her. I-I...I think the most humane thing we can do is..." his blue eyes looked over to the gun Erik had magically fired that now lay on the ground inactive. "She was ready to die, but she wanted it quickly. She still has a slow pulse so please Erik, let's just make this quick on her...?"

At first he didn't know what to say, first instinct was to argue and say of course they weren't going to kill her! They would help her! But...Charles was right, this was out of their hands and if Moira managed to wake up she would only be in intense pain that she had clearly wanted to avoid. About to stand to grab the gun with his extended hand the metal piece instead slid right over to him without him even trying.

"How did you do that?" Charles muttered but then moved away, clenching his eyes shut and shoving hands over his ears when it was clear Erik was going to finish this. One shot through her head put Moira to peace finally and the gun found its place on the floor again. "I have no idea...we'll talk about it later, come here." They embraced tightly, not caring about all of the blood and carnage surrounding them.

_::...::_

They cleaned up the best they could, going to the upstairs of the house and rummaging around for fresh clothes. Whoever had lived here their clothes fit Erik better but Charles wore the bigger clothes too with no other choice, there was no way they were going to wear the red stained ones that the government had issued them. Curling up in one of the beds together the taller man pulled out his pack of cigarettes that had gone mostly forgotten in the chaos of everything.

Only one stick looked suitable for smoking, the others were too soaked and dried from being submerged in water or had been crushed one way or another. Pulling it out Erik tossed the rest of the case across the room, Charles had already dug into his back to find a match to light it. Sitting quietly in the dark room they shared his final cigarette, passing it equally between each other and smoking it down to the butt. Neither slept much, each drifted off at different times through the night but barely any sleep was gained.

Erik had planned for them to rush past the living room in the morning so they wouldn't risk throwing up the energy bars they had managed to down but stopped halfway when Charles had already made it to the door without looking. Both Shaw's and Moira's body had split open during the night, fungi spread out from each of them. Where there had been blood small sprouts of little plants had popped up even on the wooden floor, tearing his eyes away they left the house behind them.

He wasn't surprised by the silence that fell over them as they walked towards the beach to make it to the center, the lighthouse. Erik wasn't even sure either of them cared about the mission anymore after what they had learned and seen but were each too shaken yet numb to sit and talk about what they really should do. Several hours later their feet touched sand and in the very far distance was the lighthouse.

"I have a theory." Charles announced and reached out a hand to tangle his fingers with Erik's own free ones. "Oh?" the older asked softly.

"Your control over that gun, that isn't the first instance you've had that sort of feeling was it?" he was asked and shook his head saying back, "No, over the last couple days I've had this weird...feeling, come over me. But I had no idea what it was until last night, I think it's specifically connected to metallic things."

"Interesting...well, I haven't said anything but for the last few days I've had a raging headache that comes and goes as it pleases. I don't have a history of getting those so I was sure it had to do with being inside the perimeter of the Shimmer and now I'm convinced that as silly as it sounds...this place is changing us into superhumans...or mutants if you prefer." Days ago Erik would have laughed at the thought, but not now after everything he'd seen and experienced.

"Go on." he urged.

"The Shimmer refracts organic things inside of it, plants and animals merge, normal humans seem to revert into plant-like species. But people like us, with the X-Gene, the refraction changes that gene into some sort of unique ability. You can feel and move metal, and I...I think I've gained some sort of telepathy." Charles admitted in a small voice.

"What?" Erik asked in an almost sharp tone. "What do you mean you've got telepathy suddenly?"

Looking up at Erik their eyes connected, both serious. "Like your feeling over metal its happened at random times, I swear that I can hear peoples thoughts but then it shuts off faster than I can test it. It seems to be getting stronger today, especially when I concentrate on something specific like you. Think of something vague, picture something I could never guess so I can prove it."

Thinking for a moment Erik tried to think of something odd, the Eiffel Tower? No too popular, as were the Great Pyramids. In the end he pictured his home back in Germany, small and run down, covered in inches of snow for the holidays and a Manora lit up in the living room.

"I didn't know you were Jewish." Charles said snapping Erik out of his thoughts completely. "Um anyways I got flashes of the Eiffel Tower, pyramids and then a really snowy place that I think was...your house? With the Manora." That was proof enough for Erik and he didn't know how to feel about Charles apparently reading his mind. "Are you upset...?" the other worried.

"Upset? No. A bit...unsettled, yes but I'm sure you are too." They had plenty of time to figure this out if this place didn't decide to turn them into plants or gem stones.

"I am, fuck I am so freaked out you don't even understand Erik." Charles said in a light and half joking tone. "Another thing was confusing me before, that if the government specifcally sent in a lot of people with the X-Gene and those people don't change forms completely...then where were they?"

Past tense? Erik blinked in confusion, "It was confusing you? But isn't anymore?"

"When I concentrate towards the lighthouse I get flashes of people, a big group of people Erik. The people who haven't come back, those who haven't turned into something else...they're here. Just like us they've decided to stay within the Shimmer and allow it to grow outwards." Stopping in his tracks Erik held his hand tighter and stopped as well but turned to face his companion.

The beach was beautiful and sunny, nearby were several small trees that had refracted with what Erik could assume was something in the ocean and turned them into a crystal/salt-like clearness. "So we're not alone in here after all."

"We're not alone Erik. I think the Shimmer has decided to change this world and it's chosen us, mutants, to lead it. Together."


End file.
